Autistic teen to sing at Carnegie Hall

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more than two years ago, Ting Perlis, a Glendale teen with autism, said she didn’t know what to do with her life and wondered if she would ever go to college.

Even after moving out of a public school and into a therapeutic center in Altadena, Ting Perlis became more and more withdrawn, according to her mother, Deborah, who is a special education teacher at Burbank High School.

She hardly left the comfort of her bedroom and even avoided talking to her mother and two brothers.

One day on a drive through the Montrose shopping park, the Hummingbird Conservatory of the Arts caught Debora Perlis’ eye, and she remembered that her daughter was always singing under her breath.

After a phone call to conservatory voice teacher Tara Wallace, who had never worked with children on the autism spectrum before, Ting Perlis enrolled in singing lessons.

“I brought my daughter there because I just wanted her to be happy. I didn’t think she had any secret talent,” Deborah Perlis said. “I wanted to give her something to feel good about and look forward to.”

Now, two years later, Ting Perlis, 14, is one of few singers selected for the 2018 Young Adult Honors Performance Series in February, a program that brings together talented young adult vocalists to work alongside renowned conductors and musicians at Carnegie Hall in New York.

It was only after six months of lessons that Wallace began challenging Ting Perlis to perform progressively more difficult pieces by composers such as Franz Schubert. Deborah Perlis said that, through some struggle, usually in the form of tears, her daughter mastered the songs.

A GoFundMe campaign started last week has raised about $4,000 out of the $6,000 goal as of Tuesday.

“There are so many parents out there that when our kids are diagnosed, we are told to abandon the dreams we had for our kids,” Deborah Perlis said. “So, to me, it’s about more than fundraising, it’s to show other parents, like me, don’t give up.”

^That lifted up my heart to read, as did this news piece in NZ today:
https://www.stuff.co.nz/life-style/well ... -the-beast

Perhaps we could dedicate this thread to accomplished AS singers, their public performances, recognition and achievements?

All proceeds from the single will go towards projects that support children and families affected by bullying

Macauely Elvin knows what it is like to be bullied. The 20-year-old college student has autism and that was one of the reasons, he says, that he ended up a target for unkind comments and behaviour.

“I know what it is like to be bullied and my family was bullied also because my brother and I have autism," he says. “It is not a nice feeling."

In an effort to help prevent other students going through the experience he had to endure, Macauley has released a charity single called Hollow. His aim is to raise awareness and funding for anti-bullying initiatives,

Hollow, written and performed by Macauely, shines a spotlight on the torment faced by children and young people with autism every day in schools, and is part of the Anna Kennedy Online’s "Give us a break" campaign.

At age 4, Macauely was diagnosed with aspergers, dyspraxia, semantic, pragmatic disorder and severe asthma, and suffered from bullying throughout his entire school life.